The present invention relates to a data storage apparatus used in a form incorporated into a computer or the like, and more particularly to a data storage apparatus suitable for maintenance of programs or data stored therein.
In a computer system or the like, there is no knowing when programs or data (hereinafter simply referred to as data in a general term) stored in a storage or recording medium become unreadable. Conventionally, therefore, the maintenance of data has necessitated periodical or occasional backup by another storage medium.
A technique of indicating or displaying an abnormal condition of hardware is known by, for example, JP-A-62-6346, and a technique of warning the life time of a system resource is known by, for example, JP-A-58-109948.
In the above-mentioned prior art, no consideration has been paid to the amount of labor for maintenance work by a user of a computer or the like and hence there is a problem that a backup requires a long time.